HARRY
A. HARRIS SR. was born around 1938. After serving in the United
States Navy he joined the Camden Police Department in 1962.
He served for 28 years, most notably as
a Sergeant in charge of the city's K-9
Unit in the 1970s and early 1980s. He was instrumental
reviving the Department's K-9 unit. While working in the K-9 unit
he partnered with police dogs Wolf, Nero, and Paco.

The
Camden Police has had K-9 units
at different periods in its long and distinguished history. The
unit was formed after William Neale was appointed Chief of Police
on August 1, 1960. The K-9
Unit was first commanded by Sergeant Carmin
Fuscellaro Jr., who was killed in the line of duty in February
of 1961. For the next 20 years the K-9
Unit served the citizenry of Camden. The unit was disbanded
due for budgetary reasons in 1981.

After
leaving the Police Department, Harry A. Harris Sr. worked in
Security for Sungard Financial of Voorhees, New Jersey. Last a
resident of

Marlton, New Jersey, Harry A. Harris passed away on
August 13, 2011.

Harry
A. Harris Sr. was survived by his wife of 50 years, the former
Janet F. Helverson, son Harry Harris Jr., and daughters Holly
Harris, Mrs. Janet Alesandrini, and Mrs. Peggy Cecala, five
grandchildren, and his sisters Sally Coates and Anna Mae Hess.

The K-9 Office being rehabbed.
This office was in one of the buildings in the old sewage plant
that the K-9 Unit took over.
In this photo: Tommy Kenuck, Sgt.
Harry Harris, Richie Williams

THE
CAMDEN Police Department's K-9 Corps, currently being expanded and
revitalized, is experiencing growing pains.

Three
senior members of the Corps have been transferred to patrol or walking beat
duty as the result of a conflict with the Corps' new commander, Sgt. Harry
Harris.

One
new member was bitten on the hand by the dog he was being trained to handle.

And
the K-9 expansion and transfers have rekindled a long-standing feud between
Chief Harold Melleby
and Deputy Chief Mario J. Ferrari.

The
Corps, founded in 1960, has had a checkered history that has taken it to a
peak of 18 policeman-dog teams and to a low of zero when it was briefly
abolished in 1967.

Following
vigorous public protest, it was re-established, but reached another low
point in 1974 and 1975. In 1974, the Corps' kennels on Newton
Avenue were torn down and the homeless dogs were temporarily housed in a
Lindenwold kennel. In 1975, a new city kennel on the grounds of the
Baldwin’s Run sewage treatment plant was denounced by the Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the Corps own veterinarian as cramped
and disease-producing.

A
new spacious kennel was constructed later that year, and last January,
Melleby announced that the Corps was being expanded from seven to 12 dogs,
and that some of the older dogs approaching 10 years­ would be retired.

The
new Corps also would be more specialized, with some dogs trained to sniff
out bombs, heroin and mari­juana, Melleby said.

The
revitalization under Harris who had been assigned to the Corps on two
previous occasions. is now under way.

Four
new handler-dog teams have complete training –two in narcotics detection -
and five more are taking the 12-week training course, Harris said. There are
now a total of 11 teams either in training or having completed it, he said.
The marijuana-detecting teams graduated April 29, he said.

The
revitalized Corps will work not only in Camden but in departments throughout
Camden County upon request to the county prosecutor's Office, Melleby said.

BUT
THE CHANGES in the Corps have not been without problems.

Three
senior members and their dogs have been transferred out. Patrolmen Dennis
Gormley, Ed Jordan and Ronald Miller, who average about six years'
experience each on the Corps, have been reassigned. Miller is on regular
patrol car duty, and the other two are walking beats.

Miller
and Jordan filed a grievance through the Fraternal Order of Police in which
they claimed they had been ordered to do construction work at the kennel,
allegedly in violation of a city ordinance. Harris and Melleby both refused
comment on the reasons for the transfers but the Courier-Post learned that Harris, in requesting the transfers, cited an uncooperative attitude on the
part of the men.

Miller's
and Jordan's grievances were rejected by their superiors, and they remain on
their new assign­ment.

Also,
the Courier-Post has obtained a copy of a confidential memorandum. dated
April 27. from Ferrari to Melleby. In the memorandum, Ferrari
states his opposition to the expansion of the K-9 Corps and said he would
like to see it abolished or at least reduced in scope.

Ferrari
termed the K-9 Corps “a luxury we cannot presently afford at the expense
of the regular patrol force” and an additional expense to the city that is
unnecessary. He also contended that the presence of K-9s can be
construed as inflammatory in any incident that may have racial overtones.

“Any
routine incident could become explosive with the employment of K-9s… K-9s
have been historically offensive to minority groups who are extremely
fearful and sensitive to this form of police action," Ferrari wrote in
the memorandum.

The
deputy chief also complained in the report that he was not

he commands, it falls under him in the
chain of command.

Melleby
refused to discuss personnel transfers in the Corps but indicated that
Ferrari on occasion has declined to participate in similar decisions.

"If
someone else fails to make a decision, I won’t hesitate to” the chief
said. “The work has to be done.”

Do
you have a frisky, young German Shepherd you just can't persuade to leave the
shoes, furni­ture, living-room rug and postman's leg alone?

If
he or she is one to three years old, purebred and in good condition, the
doggie that just isn't for you might be exactly want the Camden Police
Department needs.

The
department's K-9 Corps, 0n the skids in recent years, is being revived and
enlarged.

Sgt.
Harry Harris, Commanding the K-9 Division, said Wednesday that the unit will
be expanded from its seven dogs to12. He also said the present dogs, with
upwards of ten years service each, will be retired shortly.

One
additional policeman handler will be added for each dog added, bringing the
strength to 12 men.

Each
police dog is trained to respond to only one handler and cannot be used by anyone
else.

The
K-9 Unit, founded in 1960, numbered 20 dogs and their handlers, Harris said.

However
the department de-emphasized the unit several years ago and gave away all but
eight dogs. Harris, then the commander was reassigned to patrol duty three
years ago when the Newton Avenue kennels were torn down

The
K-9 unit reached a low point in 1974 and 1975 when the dogs were housed in
rented kennels in Lindenwold and later in cramped cages inside at the
Baldwin's Run Sewage Treatment Plant in Cramer Hill.

In
January 1975, Dr. SA Fittipaldi, the unit's veterinarian since it was founded,
said the dogs would sicken and die unless their living conditions improved.

The
SPCA denounced the dogs quarters as "grossly inhumane".

Under
this pressure, the city constructed new, indoor-outdoor "runs" to
accommodate up to 12 dogs, and the new kennels, also on the Baldwin’s Run
grounds, were opened later.

"The
quarter we have now are I better than any we have ever had," Harris said.
Harris said “Chief Harold
Melleby has decided to strengthen the K-9 Unit because after an extensive
evaluation, he believes that the K-9 Corps can assist the work of the
department and benefit the public."

Policemen
newly assigned to the unit will be chosen from volunteers within the
department, and several new handlers are being trained, he said.

Dogs
offered by the public to the city will be screened, and those accepted will be
trained.

Some
of the new dogs will be used for routine patrol or crowd control, but others will
be "detective dogs". "We are going to train two dogs for
narcotics detection, and two others as
bomb detectors," Harris said.

He
noted that the trend in the use of police dogs is towards these more
specialized uses. The animals can be taught to sniff out marijuana and other
drugs, and also to locale bombs and incendiary devices.

Those
with dogs to offer can telephone Harris at the K-9 Unit at 757-7887.

A
History of Camden's first K-9 Units

Chief
William Neale gave the go ahead for the K-9 in 1960. Carmin "Fuzzy"
Fuscellaro was the first Sergeant to set things up. They
were first located at South 10th Street and Newton Avenue in the old
Public Service Garage behind the Patrol Division also located there.
Some referred to it as the Police Garage. The officers did the majority
of the work as their talent was relentless with Dave Newberry, Ray
Paradise and others all kicking in and building the facility.

The
biggest hurdle was winning public support for the Unit. The picture of
the Jay-walking program was an idea of Walt
Busko. Busko obtained some
bed sheets and had Camden Police Officer Anthony Martino senior paint
"Do not Jaywalk": on the sides in front of Lit Bros. You can
see a little of Officer Martino's artwork in the display window of Lit
Bros. behind the officers. Bill Latham was another great handler in the
picture.

Chief
William Neale deserves the credit for having the wisdom and foresight to
start the K-9, police academy, juvenile bureau, traffic and accident
investigation units within the department. All became well
respected on the East Coast! I remember Bill Neale telling me that there
was only a handful of police departments willing to use K-9 dogs at that
time because of the aggressive nature of the crowd control element.
Later, detection for humans and bombs gave a more favorable appearance.
Note Chris Yeager's bloodhound.

The
officers are still wearing the Wool Coats. The original coast were
called "Potato sacks" because they were so long. The K-9, cut
them to car length. The leather jackets were then implemented because of
the hair from the K-9 dogs. Officer Walter Busko found a north North
Jersey company that provided the jackets for $35.00 each. Boy, did
that wool smell when it was wet!

Later,
the entire police department adopted the leather jackets after a series
of options were presented to the officers and by 1968 everyone switched
to leather jackets from the former blouse jackets and wool coats. This
was the turning point for the 8-point hat to the round trooper styled
hat as well. The Gray shirts remained but the navy tie was changed to
Nicholson blue to match the stripe on the pants. Later the shirt color
changed in 1972, to Navy blue following the disturbances
experienced in the city. The K-9 brought the Ascots back in
Nicholson Blue later and can be seen in some of the pictures with Bob
Nelson and Joseph Richardson.

In
the background of one of
your photos, we see Inspector Yeager and Inspector
Watson. Public displays were common to win the support of the
public for the K-9's and what they could do. The first police
vehicle was a red Ford Falcon station wagon. No air conditioning.
Philadelphia vehicles were also red at the time. We have come a long
way.

The
K-9 first K-9 unit was disbanded for manpower needs and overall cost of
the kennels in the mid-1960s. The city decided to bring in a Public
Safety Director, a retired State Police Sergeant, Keith Kauffman.

Most
of the K-9 officers ended up as juvenile or adult detective bureau so
there was no big return to patrol each time they disbanded. Ray
Paradise was always the "builder," and Walt Busko ran the
juvenile bureau for years; Bill Latham went to the Bureau for a great
career, John Aversa was promoted to sergeant and ended up in
Communications and so on. We see the same thing with the Warren
Worrell and Gary Miller era after they disbanded that group.

Eventually
the unit was started again with different units (SRD, SRB) at South 10th
Street and Newton Avenue and then disbanded for manpower. Chief Harold
Melleby started the unit for a third time at the Farragut Avenue
location in Cramer Hill.

This
was not unique to the department. Traffic Bureau met the same fate with
different combinations of Traffic and Accident Investigations. At
one point, traffic was part of Identification Bureau and the records
were kept in the basement. A grant of Honda motorcycles revised that
unit. They were shared by the SRB and ruined by the officers in a very
short period of time. But that's another story. Just a little color
background for you. The bottom line for the abandonment each time was a
familiar story. Administration did not understand the training needs of
the K-9 and on-going training that was necessary. Bill Neale copied a
program from New York and later Camden Police trained most of the area
police department much like what takes place at the Camden County Police
Academy today.

Sergeant
Harry Harris brought the pride of the K-9 back to the original unit that
I am sure he had known from the earlier years. Camden subscribed to the
model of keeping the dogs at a Kennel. Later, the idea of the
handler taking the animals home became popular due to the cost of Kennel
maintenance. Each time, it was the officers that made the units
the pride of the department by doing the majority of the work.

A US Navy veteran, Mr. Harris was a Camden City Police Officer for 28 years and after retirement worked Security for Sungard Financial of Voorhees. He was a member of the F.O.P.

Relatives and friends are invited to the viewing on Wednesday from 10-12 noon at the Bradley Funeral Home, Rt. 73 and Evesham Rd., Marlton, where a Funeral Service will be held at 12 noon. Interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Harry's memory to the Animal Welfare Assoc. 509 Centennial Blvd. Voorhees NJ 08043.